Land grab

idlemarvel

idlemarvel

Neither idle nor a marvel
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I am in the process of buying a small piece of garden from my neighbour, adjacent to my shed. SWMBO wants half and I can have the other half for garden railway. Good news is it is a "green field" site, about 14' x 21', bad news is it looks like this currently.
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It will all have to go including the lilac trees which currently shade the whole plot. Nice winter project!
 
Nice catch !
 
Buying more real estate - Nice move.
 
Yes it is a nice move. I'm trying DIY conveyancing. Good thing about my part of the plot is I can see it all from my shed window.
 
idlemarvel said:
Yes it is a nice move. I'm trying DIY conveyancing. Good thing about my part of the plot is I can see it all from my shed window.
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Yeah, but....
"It's the bit I can see from my shed window.." Won't wash with the Land Registry! :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Finally finished clearing the land today. Compare picture below with post #1. I filled a 4 yard skip with stuff from above ground. I left one lilac tree for now, the other two were rotten.

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The below ground stuff took the time. I had to dig it by hand. The ground was full of bindweed and mint roots and lilac tree suckers. I filled 4 x 240 liter wheelie bins with the stuff (see below). That box of roots came from about 2 square yards. My neighbour asked why I didn't use a rotavator. Problem is all that does is cut the weeds into smaller chunks, and bindweed and mint can regrow from a few inches of root, so it would just make the problem worse.

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Anyway 'tis done now, at least the first pass!

Ref the DIY land registration, I am still waiting on them to issue the new deeds, it's been 4 months now, so whether it was successful or not I have yet to find out.
 
Yeah the only way to get rid of bind weed or mint is use lots of poison, which is obviously a bit taboo and the plants you want won't survive it either
 
idlemarvel said:
The below ground stuff took the time. I had to dig it by hand. The ground was full of bindweed and mint roots and lilac tree suckers. I filled 4 x 240 liter wheelie bins with the stuff (see below). That box of roots came from about 2 square yards. My neighbour asked why I didn't use a rotavator. Problem is all that does is cut the weeds into smaller chunks, and bindweed and mint can regrow from a few inches of root, so it would just make the problem worse.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing, Dave. The loop I have laid out now was all dug out by hand - but only where the ROW was going to be. I left as much of the plant life as possible (and even moved some). But, that was a decent garden, this land you've stolen bought must have been a pain to work on.
 
idlemarvel said:
Finally finished clearing the land today. Compare picture below with post #1. I filled a 4 yard skip with stuff from above ground. I left one lilac tree for now, the other two were rotten.

View attachment 249486

The below ground stuff took the time. I had to dig it by hand. The ground was full of bindweed and mint roots and lilac tree suckers. I filled 4 x 240 liter wheelie bins with the stuff (see below). That box of roots came from about 2 square yards. My neighbour asked why I didn't use a rotavator. Problem is all that does is cut the weeds into smaller chunks, and bindweed and mint can regrow from a few inches of root, so it would just make the problem worse.

View attachment 249487

Anyway 'tis done now, at least the first pass!

Ref the DIY land registration, I am still waiting on them to issue the new deeds, it's been 4 months now, so whether it was successful or not I have yet to find out.
Click to expand...
I did a rework of one of my logos that was full of Mint. Evil stuff and the bits I wanted to keep for well yes. I t are not at all happy in the Pot I put them in. But I bet if I put them in the ground........... The original area infested with the stuff now has a Rockery with I think all the mint out and Black Plastic Barrier at the base level to ensure that it does not return.
 
BakerJohn said:
I do the same thing, Dave. The loop I have laid out now was all dug out by hand - but only where the ROW was going to be. I left as much of the plant life as possible (and even moved some). But, that was a decent garden, this land you've stolen bought must have been a pain to work on.
Click to expand...
It was a bit of a pain. The land had been uncultivated for decades. In answer to P Paul M I will be using weedkiller in the areas that will be below the planned track, pathways and pond/stream. SWMBO's half will be cultivated but I have negotiated a 1 m wide strip of land by the right hand fence in the pictures. It is against a 6 ft fence on the south side of the plot so it will never get any sun even on midsummer's day so nothing will grow there, is my argument.
 
idlemarvel said:
It was a bit of a pain. The land had been uncultivated for decades. In answer to P Paul M I will be using weedkiller in the areas that will be below the planned track, pathways and pond/stream. SWMBO's half will be cultivated but I have negotiated a 1 m wide strip of land by the right hand fence in the pictures. It is against a 6 ft fence on the south side of the plot so it will never get any sun even on midsummer's day so nothing will grow there, is my argument.
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Ivy, Lonicera, Vinca and even Mint would survive. All did well in similar circumstances in my Gerden as well as some other undesirable plants. Best bet Black Plastic Builders Sheet and Gravel for a complete solution if you want it to look neat.
 
As mentioned in another thread, I am going to use this land for a 5" gauge railway and keep the G scale for indoors. I have already taken up the outdoor 45mm track. To make enough room for a loop at 5" gauge I have to move my shed by about a metre. This means emptying the shed which in turn means dismantling the layout and boxing everything up for a while. :-( It's a 10' x 12' shed with 16mm walls, 22mm floor, insulation, internal tongue and groove cladding and double glazed windows, so it's probably quite heavy, but once emptied I hoping my son in law and a few of his mates can help me lift or more probably slide the shed into the new position. It is not fixed to the ground, just held in place by its own weight. As part of the project plan for the move I will have to get another shed (you can never have too many!) to store the contents of the old shed temporarily. The old shed has an internal dividing wall behind which all the conventional garden stuff is kept - garden chairs, tables, gazebos, pressure washer, lawn mover, etc etc. These will be placed in the new shed so the dividing wall in the old shed will be removed, leaving more space for my layout, so there is another upside to the shed move. All this will take several months, so I will not be able to play trains for a while; I will have to make do with seeing pictures of yours! :)
 
I'd better get my posterior in gear, and make sure I start mine then?

I, for one, will be interested in progress on all fronts.. :):nod::nod:
 
Some progress this weekend. I have cleared and leveled the area where the shed will be moved to, and marked out the line and level for the track in this part of the extended garden. The box in the foreground is full of yet more bindweed and mint roots.

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This is the shed that has to be emptied and moved. I am waiting for delivery of plastic geo-grids and pea shingle to make the extended based for the shed.

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Lots more to do but I am more or less free of grandparenting duties for 3 weeks so weather permitting I should be able to make some progress. :)
 
idlemarvel said:
Lots more to do but I am more or less free of grandparenting duties for 3 weeks so weather permitting I should be able to make some progress. :)
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How did you manage that during the Easter holidays.... :D
 
I don't know if you're like me, but before I start a big project like this, I tend to go into "dither mode" and worry if I might be biting off more than I can chew. One way to get out of this "should I / shouldn't I" situation is to tell as many people as possible what you are planning to do, then you'll be too embarrassed to have to tell them all you chickened out!

The other way is to make some significant financial commitment, which I did today by ordering a loco from Ride on Railways. It's a 5" gauge battery powered Bo-Bo shunter, not based on any narrow gauge prototype but if you squint a bit it could be taken for Conway Castle on the Ffestiniog.

They are made to order so it'll be three months before it is ready, by which time I hope I will have driven in the "golden spike" to join both ends of the track loop!

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Conway Castle
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With some fine weather today I have made some more progress. It doesn't look like much but it took ages to get those plastic grids level, much longer than I anticipated. However my "quantity surveying" was spot on, I got just the right amount of materials - plastic mats, sharp sand, pea shingle, etc. Anyway you can see where the shed will be moved to. I managed to locate the underground armoured power cable so that will be re-attached when the shed is finally moved.

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idlemarvel said:
With some fine weather today I have made some more progress. It doesn't look like much but it took ages to get those plastic grids level, much longer than I anticipated. However my "quantity surveying" was spot on, I got just the right amount of materials - plastic mats, sharp sand, pea shingle, etc. Anyway you can see where the shed will be moved to. I managed to locate the underground armoured power cable so that will be re-attached when the shed is finally moved.

View attachment 250897
Click to expand...
I can well imagine just how tricky getting them level is having helped a friend with them a couple of years back problem was he had half started the job and I was left trying to get them level when part filled with the gravel. Trickybin the extreme.
 
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